Monday September 20th 2021

Today was filled with random quick and heavy rain storms. Every hour or so the weather would quickly change from patchy clouds with a little sun to dark menacing clouds filled with heavy rain. The temperature peaked around eighty with plenty of humidity.

Today started with finishing setting up camp for my weeks stay. I also needed to get used to having usable internet, full TV service, cell phone service and enough electric power that I didn’t have to be concerned about how many things I turned on at time. I enjoyed my stay in the woods at Piney Grove Campground, but the low technology was a bit frustrating at time. It was hardly “roughing it,” but I am used to the comforts of the modern age.

This campground is interesting. It is about three quarters long term and the rest for transients. Last night the transient area was almost full. This morning by 9:30 it was almost empty. It hasn’t filled to the same level tonight. There are clear signs that a lot of work has been put into the park recently. I’m not sure if it is a refurbishment of an older park or a completely new park. There is new sod between the sites, young trees planted between the sites, new gravel on some sites and in the roads along with fairly new utilities. Management also seems very focused on keeping the park cleaned and well maintained. They were pressure washing the charcoal grills this morning.

After almost two weeks in the woods I needed to restock. I found a Walmart in nearby Muscle Shoals. This area has four rather large towns of Sheffield, Tuscumbia, Muscle Shoals and on the other side of the Tennessee River is Florence. Some of them may even be considered cities. The Walmart was busy, but I found it better stocked than the last couple I’ve shopped. One observation is that this area isn’t big on mask wearing. The majority of the customers were not wearing masks.

Sunday September 19th 2021

The day began cloudy with a forecast of rain. I got a few of the outside travel preparation tasks completed before breakfast. After breakfast, while I was working on some of the inside tasks, it started to rain. Checking the forecast on the internet and the weather radar the rain would end in the afternoon well before the 3PM checkout time.

I spent two and a half hours slowly getting the inside of my RV home ready for travel and generally killing time. Around 1PM the rain let up and sunshine started to arrive. I began the outside tasks. I got a little wet from the remnants of the rain and the big drops falling from the leaves in the trees. Today I had one extra outdoor travel prep task. My Honda CR-V needed the air in one of its tires topped off. The low pressure indicator came on yesterday while I was driving back to the campground. The drivers side rear tire has a slow leak that is triggered by big temperature changes. The hardest part of topping off the tires is getting the compressor out of the storage bay. It takes ten minutes to get it out and the tank filled. Putting the air in the tire along with checking the others takes less than five minutes followed by another ten to get the air out of the compressor and loading it back into the storage bay. Just another dust speck of a bump in the road.

The other gotcha getting ready to leave was hooking up the car. There wasn’t a level area nearby that didn’t completely block all traffic. I found an area with only a slight up hill slope before a big downhill stretch. The trick was making sure everything locked in place before I started downhill. Going downhill before the tow bar locks into place can be disastrous. A solid manual application of the auxiliary brake helped assure everything lock into place in a short distance. Of course the location I chose meant I had to drive around the whole narrow road of the camping loop to get out of the campground. After a stop at the dumping station I was out of the campground by 2:30pm. I think that is the latest I’ve started my days travel.

Sixty miles and an hour and a half later I arrived at my destination for the next eight nights. The sun was out and the roads were dry for the entire drive. When I arrived at the Heritage Acres RV Park in Tuscumbia Alabama, the park roads were filled with water puddles. It was clear that they had received more rain than I experienced. Not long after I was setup more rain arrived.

Saturday September 18th 2021

The threat of rain dominated the day. It was cloudy and humid when I started my day this morning. A few patches of blue sky arrived in the early afternoon, but didn’t last. Around 4PM the distant sound of thunder was in the air. A few light showers passed through over the next few hours. Since darkness arrived the precipitation has ended. The temperature peaked around eighty.

The campground isn’t as full this weekend. There are more empty sites than last weekend, but I don’t think there are any less boats. The parking areas are all filled with empty boat trailers and the banks of the lake around the campground are lined with boats. This weekend there seems to be a preponderance of pontoon boats. They are popular as party boats and the once with oversize motors can really move.

This is my last full day at Piney Grove Campground. I usually don’t move on Sunday. I prefer to avoid all of the traffic departing the campground and on the roads. It was a mistake to book my departure for tomorrow. At least the 3PM checkout time gives me plenty of time to get ready to travel. I’m moving about sixty miles to the east. I’ll correct my Sunday departure issue, by staying eight nights. I should be back in civilization with a cell phone signal and good satellite TV access.

Friday September 17th 2021

The long forecast rain finally arrived at the end of Thursday into the beginning of Friday. I had been anticipating it with a little dread since Tuesday afternoon. The first shower was about a half hour of heavy rain. Throughout the night I think there was occasional light rain, but I slept through most of it.

During the day today most of the rain was light short storms. It wasn’t heavy enough to darken the ground under the trees, but that changed quickly. When the sky started to brighten I took my first walk of the day. Mother nature choose the time when I was on the other side of the campground from my RV home to open the rain nozzle. I had to take cover for close to half an hour to avoid getting soaked walking back home. There was one more heavy shower in the afternoon, but most of day had followed the brief light rain pattern. Overall the weather threatened to rain hard at any moment.

Despite the fact that many people arrived last night for the weekend, the campground was quiet again today. Most of yesterday’s arrivals were gone for the day. I suspect they went home for work and school during the day. More RVs arrived for the weekend this afternoon. It looks like the park will have more vacancies this weekend than last. Perhaps, the weather forecast for rain is keeping people home.

I really missed having satellite TV today. Listening to the radio and reading was getting old. Internet access from the campground hotspot and from my phone is also problematic. I put the satellite back up with the hope that things would be different this time. At first test it wasn’t, but I decided to try all the channels on the chance that one of the three satellites my dish locks onto was getting through the tree cover. All of the channels I watch on a regular basis were unavailable, but I found a few channels less desirable channels with a clear signal. Many of the shopping channels were available as were the religious channels and a few of the recently added channels. Among the available channels were a few broadcasting old westerns and cop shows. I had a few palatable options to watch this afternoon.

Thursday September 16th 2021

The lack of time cues from the TV continues to play havoc with my sleep pattern. Listening to the radio and reading kept me up much longer than my normal bedtime. The result was a later and slower start to the day. Once I got up I found a cloudy day. The forecast rain never materialized, but the sun only made a few weak attempts at visibility late in the day. A stronger breeze than the past few days was also blowing most of the day. The temperature peaked around eighty.

On my morning walk, which didn’t happen until just after noon, I saw a squirrel. It reminded me of how few, if any, squirrels I’ve seen while I’ve been here. There is plenty of traditional squirrel food like pine cones, acorns and berries. At other campgrounds with similar food sources the squirrels are overrunning the place.

I have seen very few creatures other than people at this park. Some of it is because of the location on a spit of land sticking out into the lake. Bigger animals like deer wouldn’t want to get trapped among people without good cover or a clear escape path. I’m not sure what the smaller animals excuse might be. In the marshier areas along the lake shore I expected to find ducks and wading birds. In the last couple of days I’ve startled a Great Blue Heron on a number of occasions. It gets spooked before I know it is around as I approach the shore. All I want to do is take its picture. It must be camera shy. I still haven’t seen any ducks.

As I sat outside my RV home this afternoon, a steady flow of new arrivals passed by. The quiet of the last few days is over. Tonight I can hear the sound of trucks and other vehicles moving around. Kids are out on bicycles and scooters. The first thing people do after setting up camp is launch their boats and power them at full throttle out into the lake. The weekend is here on Thursday night. It will only get busier tomorrow.

Wednesday September 15th 2021

I expected today to be cloudy and wet. It was cloudy to start, but by midday the sun was breaking through the clouds. The forecast rain and the remnants of tropical system Nicholas seem to be moving slower and staying to the south. Tomorrow’s forecast still calls for rain showers even thought the weather radar shows the storm already over Alabama and Georgia.

I am seeing more signs that fall is arriving everyday. The sun is setting earlier every day. Today’s official sunset time is almost ten minutes earlier than it was last week when I arrived here and twenty minutes earlier than the beginning of the month. The heavy forestation also makes it seem dark earlier at night and for longer in the morning.

The arrival of Fall is causing me to reflect on this summers travels. It was heavily influenced by not having a plan. Last winter I kept delaying making plans and reservations until I understood the COVID vaccination situation. As it turned out, I got vaccinated earlier than I anticipated and could have (should have) made real plans. Instead I’ve been planning as I go. The result hasn’t been perfect. Finding reservations on the weekends has often been a problem. Out of frustration I’ve spent longer in less desirable locations rather than continuing to explore options. Even so, I’ve spent time in several nice areas I wouldn’t have visited had I planned all of my Summer travels. Fontaineblue State Park in Louisiana, a stop in Vicksburg, and return visits to Tom Sawyer RV park on the Mississippi River and Maumelle Corp of Engineers Park on the Arkansas River were all good fun stops. I just haven’t visited any major new areas this summer.

I have about five weeks of my “summer” travel season to go. I’m am moving east slowly following the same pattern of planning as I go that I’ve been using all summer. October 22nd marks the end of my summer travels. I have reservations at various places in Florida from then through the middle of March 2022. Most of my stays will be two weeks long in state or federal parks, but I start with a month long stay at a private park in the Jacksonville area and have a few shorter “filler” reservations along the way. Overall it is a slower pace visiting mostly know areas with lots of interesting things to do and see.

Planning for next summer is in the early stages. The working outline of a plan is to head for the Dakotas. How I get there, what I see along the way, the things I see in addition to the national parks and the Black Hills, and where I end my summer travels are all things to figure out. Right now I anticipate being back in Florida again for the winter. The research and the theoretical part of planning are the fun part. Finding places to stay and making reservations is the tedious part.

Tuesday September 14th 2021

The day began cloudy and got worse from there. In the morning the clouds were thin enough that the sun could cast a decent shadow. During the early afternoon many billowing dark clouds appeared. To the south of my RV home those clouds contained focused intense rain. Driving through one, I had to crank the wipers to full speed for a couple of minutes before it was over. Back at camp the storms didn’t arrive until shortly after dark, but most of the afternoon ominous rumblings of thunder were all around the area. With all of the clouds and rain threat the temperature peaked around eighty.

This weather was forecast before tropical system Nicholas was project to impact his area, so I’m guessing it isn’t directly related to the storm. Nicholas is currently headed in this general direction. The Mississippi coast may get six inches or more of rain. Here in the Tennessee, Alabama corner of Mississippi they are currently calling for a forty to sixty percent chance of rain Wednesday into Thursday morning. The total accumulation of rain from the scattered storms is anticipated to be less an inch or two. Other than keeping me inside during the rain, it shouldn’t have a big impact on me. My campsite is on high ground with good drainage. The trees overhead do not appear to be very threatening either.

The campground seems even emptier today. Whole sections of the campground are empty. One group of sites on a point of land jutting into the Lake makes up for the empty areas. There are eight trailers camped on those sites. I think they are all part of the same extended family or group. They came in together last night. Judging by what the campground looked like last Thursday when I arrived, things will probably start to fill up some Thursday with many more people arriving for the weekend on Friday. I’ll be here until Sunday, so I can prove or disprove my hypothesis.

Monday September 13th 2021

Today was a little cloudier version of Sunday. It may have been more humid, but once the level reaches uncomfortable a few ticks on the scale doesn’t make much of a difference. The high eighties temperature with the humidity made it feel like the mid nineties. The forecast for later in the week is the real concern. The remnants of the latest tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico should be passing through the area. I’m on high ground so lots of rain should be an issue and the wind should be manageable this far inland on the current track.

The lack of regular TV had a new impact on today’s activities. As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, the absence of having the TV on constantly, even when I’m not watching, is the sense of time it provides. The music radio station I have on in its place is very constant. It provides no hourly break to keep me aware of the passage of time. That little feature came into play last night. I was still sitting on the couch reading after 2AM. Thus began the downward spiral. I got up late this morning and was tired all day.

The campground continued to empty out from the weekend this morning. I thought the park was empty late yesterday afternoon. This afternoon on one of my walks I counted twelve occupied sites out of 140. This evening a few more campers arrived so it is a little more occupied. It continues to be a nice quiet park mid week. Now if the people remaining could just turn off a few lights I’d be even happier.

Last night (early morning) just before I finally went to bed, I took the opportunity to step outside to check out the stars in the sky. It wasn’t nearly as dark as I expected. Many of the few campers that remained had all of their outside lights on. I understand the need to have lights for outdoor living areas, but why do they have to be left on all night. Is it some form of security, forgetfulness or something else. To me one of the advantages of coming to a campground in the middle of the woods is the escape from the lights and activity of civilization.

Sunday September 12th 2021

The humidity has returned to dominate the weather. The sky is filled with a high thin cloud cover, but the sun still managed to warm things up into the upper eighties. Most of the day the wind was very mild. Overall it wasn’t the most comfortable day weather wise.

The checkout time at this campground is 3PM. People took advantage of the late hour and didn’t all rush out of here in the morning. There was a steady rate of departure with a few even waiting until 3PM before departing. Late this afternoon the vast majority of the 140 sites were empty. The campground went from an active noisy place to a quiet tranquil one. Outside the only sounds are the insects in the trees. I can get used to this.

My day was focused on catching up on chores around the RV between a couple of walks around the park. Doing the laundry is one task that will not get accomplished while I’m here. One of the casualties of the pandemic at this park is the laundry. They have closed the building. The inconsistency of COVID responses is amazing. I understand the rules come from the local county health departments since other Army Corp of Engineers campgrounds in the same management district (Mobile) have the laundries open. I’ll survive without doing the laundry for another week or two. It just strikes me as odd how the rules are different.

Saturday September 11th 2021

I woke this morning to find high thin clouds filtering the sun. It was an indicator of the higher humidity level. The day was still a nice September day. The temperature started in the sixties and peaked in the mid eighties. Tomorrow is forecast to be a little warmer.

The campground is full of families and extended families doing there best to enjoy the weekend. I am surrounded by hyper activity. People launched boats most of the morning and retrieved them most of the afternoon. While on the lake they were skiing, tubing, fishing and generally speeding around. Land based recreation included bicycle riding, scooter riding, pickup basketball games and general running around. Those that weren’t active were gathering at campsites to share meals.

I am not used to so much activity around. The last few weekend family campgrounds I’ve stayed at haven’t been this active. This campground has the level of activity associated with a pent up need to get outside like you might experience after a long winter. I get the impression this is normal behavior at this park during the good weather. My problem is there is no place to walk that I don’t feel like I’m invading some families party. All of the communal water access areas like the fishing piers or boat launch had family groups gathering. I will say when you get near these groups you can overhear some wild conversations. To paraphrase one: Grandmother to ten year old boy. “Your aunt is at Walmart. What do you want for your birthday?” The boy replied; “I don’t know. Have her take some pictures and I’ll decide.” Is that more of a commentary on the boy being spoiled or our society in general?

As I wrote in Thursday night’s blog entry, I don’t have any real TV here. My satellite is blocked by the trees and the only over the air TV signal is one PBS station that only comes in intermittently. As a substitute I have the radio playing most of the day. I’m not missing watching TV programs. It is the time checks that program changes create on the half hour that I’m missing. I have no real sense of time during the day. Every time I looked at the clock today I was surprised at either how late it was or how recently I last looked at the clock. With another week to go without TV, I may be time challenged a few more times.